[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E694-E695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1995

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                               speech of

                             HON. JACK REED

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 23, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4) to 
     restore the American family, reduce illegitimacy, control 
     welfare spending, and reduce welfare dependence:

  Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman, throughout the debate on welfare reform, I 
have stated that real welfare reform must meet three important tests: 
Does the proposed plan promote work? Does it provide States with 
adequate resources? Does it protect children? Although the bill offered 
by Representative Deal as a Democratic substitute is not perfect, I 
believe that it meets these three tests.
  Individual responsibility is at the heart of this bill. On the first 
day an individual applies for welfare benefits, that individual will be 
required to sign a comprehensive individualized responsibility plan 
detailing what the individual is expected to do to find a job and what 
the State is expected to do to assist them in achieving this goal. If 
an individual refuses to sign such a plan, that individual will not be 
eligible for AFDC benefits. In contrast, the Republican bill does not 
require that an individual actively look for a job for 2 years. In 
fact, the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] has stated in its analysis 
of the Republican bill that all 50 States will fail to meet the job 
requirements of the bill.
  In addition, whereas the Republican bill simply requires States to 
move a growing percentage of their welfare caseload off of the welfare 
rolls, the Democratic bill requires States to move a growing percentage 
of their welfare caseload off of the welfare rolls and into jobs.
  The substitute also removes traditional barriers to employment by 
recognizing the reality of our changing work force. If welfare reform 
is successful and truly about work, the demand for child care will 
increase as individuals move from welfare to work. The substitute 
guarantees that child care assistance will be provided to any parent on 
AFDC who needs child care assistance to accept and keep a job or 
participate in a work program. In recognition of this accepted increase 
in demand, the substitute increases child care assistance for the 
working poor by $424 million over 5 years above current projections. 
Under our current system, States are often forced to choose between 
providing child care assistance to individuals on welfare and the 
working poor.
  The Deal bill recognizes that real welfare reform is not cheap, and 
it provides States with the resources needed to move recipients from 
welfare to work. The bill provides $9 billion to assist States in 
establishing programs to move people into the work force.
  The Democratic substitute also maintains the current structure of 
successful child nutrition programs. In contrast, the Contract With 
[[Page E695]] America proposal would have consolidated dozens
 of programs into block grants and handed over responsibility, without 
the necessary resources, to the states. As one of my colleagues 
recently stated, ``their bill is about who gets the problem, not how to 
fix the problem''.

  The Deal bill does not make children suffer for the shortcomings, 
real or imagined, of their parents. The bill does not require that 
States deny benefits to teen mothers or their children, but the bill 
does require, however, that teen mothers live with a responsible adult 
and that the teen mother stay in school.
  The Deal bill also retains the guarantee that abused and neglected 
children will receive foster care and adoption assistance.
  There has been a lot of talk about the abuses in the Supplemental 
Security Income Program [SSI]. The Deal bill attempts to get at the 
abuses in the program without harming the medically disabled children 
the program was established to assist. And perhaps most importantly, 
the bill retains the decisionmaking power on how to care for a disabled 
child with the family, not with a State bureaucrat. In contrast, the 
Republican bill would deny cash benefits to 700,000 disabled children 
in the SSI Program.
  This is welfare reform that is tough, but fair. It promotes work, 
provides States with the resources to design effective programs, and 
provides protection for our children. At the heart of the Democratic 
welfare reform bill is work--at the heart of the Republican welfare 
reform bill is shifting responsibility, not resources to States. The 
Democratic bill represents real welfare reform that does not take from 
our children to pay for tax cuts for the rich.


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